"^*l^^' 


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LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


^ 


•>^ 


tf '  u  ■         - — ^     '  •  ^ 


AN    ADDRESS 


ON    THE 


CHARACTER  AND   EXAMPLE 


OF 

President.  Lincoln, 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


Etljena^um  anlr  iSberett  S^ft^tie^s 


OF 


HAVEEFOED  COLLEGE, 


BY 


PROFESSOR  THOMAS  CHASE. 


On  Fifth  Day  Evening,  Seventh  Month  6th,  1865. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

SHEEMAN  &  CO..  PEINTEES. 

1865. 


*l 


AN    ADDRESS 


ON   THE 


CHARACTEE  AND  EXAMPLE 


OF 


President    Lincoln, 


DELIVERED    BEFORE   THE 


atijeno^um  au5  JEberett  ^otittm 


OF 


HAYEEFOED  COLLEGE, 


BY 


PROFESSOE  THOMAS  CHASE, 


On  Fifth  Day  Evening,  Seventh  Month  6th,  1865. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

SHEEMAN  &  CO.,  PEIJSTTEES. 

18G5. 


'^^ 


-=\ 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Haverford  College,  7tli  Month  8tli,  1865. 

At  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Athenaeum  and  Everett  Societies,  held 
7th  month  7th,  1865,  it  was  resolved, 

That  the  thanks  of  the  Societies  are  due,  and  are  hereby  tendered, 
to  Professor  Thomas  Chase,  for  his  able  and  eloquent  Address  on 
"The  Character  and  Example  of  President  Lincoln;"  and  we,  as 
their  Committee,  were  authorized  to  request  a  copy  for  publication. 

Benj.  a.  Vail, 
S.  C.  Collins, 

Of  the  Athenceum  Society. 
A.  M.  Elliott, 
D.  H.  Nichols, 

Of  the  Evei'ett  Society. 


Haverford,  7th  Month  8th,  1865. 

Benj.  a.  Vail,  S.  C.  Collins,  A.  M.  Elliott,  D.  H.  Nichols, 

Co-mniittce. 

A  copy  of  my  Address  is  herewith  placed  at  your  disposal. 

Very  truly,  your  Friend, 

Thomas  Chase. 


ADDRESS. 


History  records  no  more  touching,  no  sublimer  spectacle, 
than  that  which  has  just  been  presented  in  our  own  land, 
of  a  mighty  nation  of  freemen,  stretching  over  half  a  con- 
tinent, from  one  of  the  world's  great  oceans  to  the  other, 
bowed  as  one  man  in  mourning  and  lamentation  at  the  loss 
of  their  beloved  and  chosen  chief  Who  of  us  shall  ever  for- 
get the  agony  of  that  saddest  day  in  our  country's  annals, 
when  it  was  told  us  that  the  shameless  hand  of  a  low- 
lived assassin  had  struck  down  the  foremost  man  of  all 
this  world, — the  grief,  the  shame,  the  horror,  and  the 
righteous  anger  which  thrilled  through  every  heai't  at 
that  fell  tidings  ?  but  grief  overmastering  our  shame,  our 
horror,  and  even  our  just  wrath ;  grief  as  deep  and  as  in- 
tense as  if  we  had  each  been  robbed  of  the  nearest  and 
dearest  of  our  kindred;  benumbing  grief,  which  weighed 
upon  our  hearts  like  lead;  which  we  could  not  shake  off, 
nor  would  we  if  we  could;  itself  the  most  impressive  tri- 
bute that  could  be  paid  to  the  greatness  and  goodness  of 
him  who  had  won  from  a  whole  nation  this  devoted  aifec- 
tion,  and  the  fittest  eulogy  of  his  virtues. 

Prompted  by  an  irresistible  impulse,  we  met,  on  that 
sad  morning,  to  pay  our  simple,  heartfelt  tribute,  to  the 
memory  of  the  departed  patriot  and  Christian.  The  foun- 
tains of  our  tears  were  open,  we  spoke  our  few  and  earnest 


words,  and  prayers  ascended  to  the  Source  of  all  grace  and 
consolation,  forthe  widow,  and  the  orphans,  and  the  stricken 
land.  And  what  we  did,  unbidden,  men  did  everywdiere, 
each  in  his  own  way.  The  hearts  of  millions  had  been 
pierced  at  one  blow,  and  in  deep  and  solemn  harmony  the  , 
voice  of  common  lamentation  arose  from  the  whole  land. 
The  lightnings  had  flashed  the  tidings  to  remotest  city 
and  hamlet,  and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  country  men  went  with  downcast  eyes  and  bated 
breath.  As,  later  in  the  day,  I  walked  the  streets  of  yon- 
der city,  the  manifold  emblems  of  mourning  around  me, 
enforcing  the  sense,  with  a  painful  shock,  that  that  was 
indeed  reality  w^iich  had  aj^peared  like  some  hideous 
dream,  I  seemed  to  have  joined  the  vast  funeral  procession 
which  was  following  the  martyr's  body  to  the  tomb.  One 
thought,  one  feeling,  was  uppermost  in  the  hearts  of  all 
those  silent,  thronging  thousands.  It  was  indeed  majestic, 
this  unanimity  of  woe,  this  profound  emotion  of  a  people's 
heart  in  recognition  of  departed  worth  and  greatness. 

And  again,  when  the  precious  dust  was  borne  so  ten- 
derly, so  regretfully,  so  proudly,  through  mourning  States, 
how  the  people,  of  every  rank  and  condition,  crowded  to 
the  roadsides  but  to  see  the  funeral  train,  and  in  the  great 
cities,  which  deemed  it  a  high  privilege  to  hold  the  sacred 
relics  for  one  short  day  in  their  storied  halls,  what  multi- 
tudes joined  in  the  sad  processions,  or  gazed  on  the  benig- 
nant features  of  the  dead  ! 

Nor  w^as  the  mourning  confined  to  a  single  continent. 
From  the  farthest  corners  of  the  globe  the  echoes  of  our 
lamentation  are  still  repeated  to  us.  In  the  land  of  our 
fathers, — that  land  which,  in  spite  of  temporary  causes  of 
alienation,  is  ever  the  nearest  to  our  affections  after  our 
own, — the  loss  was  felt  as  a  domestic  one;  and  from  all 
classes,  from  the  sovereign  to  the  peasant,  unprecedented 
honors  were  paid  to  the  dead.     In  all  our  grief  and  disap- 


pointmeiit,  both  at  what  was  either  the  woful  incapacity 
of  the  governing  classes  in  England  to  understand  the  true 
nature  of  our  struggle,  or  the  proof  that  there  is  a  natural 
alliance   between    aristocratic  institutions   and  the  most 
degrading  system  of  human  bondage   beneath  the   sun^ 
and,  above  all,  at  that  strange  perversity  through  which 
a  nation  so  loud  in  its  professions  of  philanthropy  gave 
its  sympathies  to  insurgents  who  strove  to  build  up  a  na- 
tion on  slavery  as  its  chief  corner-stone,  let  us  never  forget 
the  noble  band  of  scholars  and  thinkers,  who,  in  evil  report 
and  obloquy,  boldly  espoused  our  cause,  continuing  faithful 
unto  the  end,  and  the  still  nobler  company  of  the  working- 
men  of  England,— nobler,  for  their  testimony  was  borne 
in  the  face  of  famine  and  ruin, — who  felt  that  ours  was 
the  cause  of  freedom  everywhere,  and  scorned  to  buy  their 
own  comfort  by  assisting  to  fasten  the  fetters  of  the  slave. 
And  let  us  a'ive  even  our  old  foes  and  slanderers  the  credit 
of  being  able  to  appreciate  the  virtue  of  success;  not  dis- 
trusting the  sincerity  with  which  the  ribald  revilerrpf  the 
good  man  who  has  gone  from  us  has  sung  that  beautiful  and 
touching  Palinodia,  or  even  the  time-serving  ape  of  Jupiter 
Tonans  has  poured  forth  his  posthumous  praise.  From  Rus- 
sia, our  faithful  ally,  whose  good  Emperor  has  consummated 
an  act  of  emancipation  which  will  enroll  his  name  with  Lin- 
coln's among  the  benefactors  of  mankind,-— from  Germany, 
taught  his  greatness  and  goodness  by  her  many  wander- 
ing sons  who  have  found  happy  homes  on    our  shores, — ■ 
from  France,  still  nursing  the  slumbering  embers  of  free- 
dom, and  still  cherishing  the  remembrance  of  our  old  alli- 
ance,— from  Italy,  just  perfecting,  through  many  suffer- 
ings,  her  union  and  nationality, — from  the  descendants 
of  the  Hellenes,  and   from  all  the  minor  states   of  Eu- 
rope,— from  the  imperial  city  on  the  Golden  Horn, — from 
Smyrna,  where  old  Homer  sang, — from  the   dwellers  on 
the   Nile,— from   farthest   India,  and  the   islands  of  the 


8 

sea, — come  the  same  accordant  strains  of  symjDatby  and 
sorrow  and  reverential  praise. 

Taking  into  view  both  the  depth  of  the  lamentation  and 
its  universality,  I  run  no  hazard  in  asserting  that  never 
was  man  so  mourned  before. 

And  now  that  the  first  shock  of  onr  mighty  sorrow  is 
over,  it  is  well  to  ask  what  it  was  in  the  character  and  the 
services  of  the  departed  statesman  and  magistrate  that 
won  for  him  this  majestic  testimonial  of  the  tears  of  a  na- 
tion and  a  world.  It  is  because  I  deem  that  such  an  in- 
quiry will  be  instructive  to  us  all,  that  I  have  yielded  to 
your  kind  invitation  to  address  you  upon  this  theme.  I 
shall,  perhaps,  best  answer  the  question  by  successively 
reviewing  some  of  the  prominent  points  in  our  lamented 
President's  career. 

And  first — a  thing  which  is  particularly  instructive  to 
us  in  this  seat  of  learning — is  the  fact  that  he  was  so  little 
indebted  for  his  influence  and  his  fame  to  those  acquisi- 
tions and  accomplishments  to  which  we  attach  so  high  a 
value,  and  which  it  is  one  of  the  chief  purposes  of  your 
being  here  to  attain.  The  youngest  of  you  has  already 
enjoyed  opportunities  of  instruction  superior  to  any  that 
ever  fell  to  his  lot.  In  classic  and  scientific  lore,  many  of 
you  are  his  superiors.  Yet  how  paltry,  how  insignificant 
appear  these  accomplishments,  when  measured  with  the 
grandeur  of  his  character !  With  all  our  superior  advan- 
tages, few  of  us  can  hope  to  approach  the  eminence  to 
which  his  simple  virtues  raised  this  man  of  the  people.  It 
is  well  that  our  pride  should  be  humbled  by  this  thought ; 
it  is  well  that  we  should  recognize  the  fact  that,  justly  as 
we  prize  the  graces  of  learning  and  culture,  they  are 
worthless  dross  when  weighed  against  the  higher  though 
more  homely  qualities  of  truth  and  honesty  and  moral 
courage. 

But,  while  the  example  of  the  great  departed  rebukes 


9 

all  undue  pride  of  privilege,  it  incites  us,  at  the  same  time, 
to  diligence  in  the  pursuit  of  mental  culture,  and  bears 
witness  to  its  value  in  fitting  a  man  to  discharge  the  great 
duties  of  life.  For  Abraham  Lincoln,  though  no  college 
had  ever  fostered  and  encouraged  his  literary  pursuits, 
was  a  man  of  no  mean  education.  That  was  a  foul  slander 
of  our  enemies  which  asserted  that  the  American  people 
had  raised  to  their  head  an  illiterate  boor.  Almost  with- 
out aid,  encouragement,  or  facilities,  he  had  done  for  him- 
self what,  however  great  our  facilities,  each  one  of  us  is 
practically  left  alone  to  do  for  himself, — trained  and  culti- 
vated his  mind,  developed  its  powers,  evoked  its  energies, 
less  sj^stematicall}^,  less  extensively,  less  roundly,  per- 
chance, than  men  on  whose  birth  fair  science  smiled, — yet 
with  results  which  were  admirable  in  themselves,  inde- 
pendent of  the  consideration  of  the  difficulties  triumphed 
over  in  their  attainment.  He  mastered  his  own  language 
so  as  to  be  able  to  express  his  thoughts  in  it  with  rare 
clearness,  force,  and  point;  and  generally — although  some- 
times adopting  phrases  which  a  more  cultivated  taste 
would  reject — with  great  propriety  of  diction,  rising  not 
unfrequently  into  a  nervous  eloquence  which  the  greatest 
masters  of  speech  have  hardly  surpassed.  In  diction,  as 
w^ell  as  in  grandeur  of  sentiment,  the  closing  paragraph  of 
his  address  at  the  consecration  of  the  National  Cemetery 
at  Gettysburg  is  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  the  funeral 
oration  of  Pericles,  the  noblest  example  of  ancient  ora- 
tory ;  and  many  passages  might  be  culled  from  his  speeches 
and  public  papers  which  any  man  might  be  proud  to  have 
written.  In  mathematical  science,  his  attainments  were 
by  no  means  inconsiderable.  Arithmetic  itself,  which  he 
mastered  in  his  second  school,  is  no  poor  instrument  of 
mental  culture ;  he  made  himself,  moreover,  an  accom- 
])lished  surveyor;  and  geometr}', — a  science  second  to  none 
ill  its  power  to  develop  and  strengthen  the  mind, — he  stu- 


10 

died  with  such  ardent  love  and  diligence  that  a  discerning 
friend  of  his  attributed  to  its  influence  one  of  his  most 
striking  mental  characteristics;  "a  logical  turn  of  mind, 
which  followed  unwaveringly  every  link  in  the  chain  of 
thought  on  any  subject  which  he  was  called  on  to  investi- 
gate." Again,  the  study  of  the  law,  one  of  the  noblest  of 
human  sciences,  and  one  in  which  he  made  great  profi- 
ciency, is  in  itself  an  education,  l^ov  must  I  omit  to  speak 
of  what  I  rank  among  the  proudest  distinctions  and  noblest 
fruits  of  free  institutions, — ^the  educating  power  which  is 
involved  in  the  political  a,ctivity  required  of  the  citizen. 
Frequently  called  upon  to  take  part  in  the  decision  of 
public  matters  of  the  gravest  imj^ort,  the  American  free- 
man is  compelled  by  natural  curiosity,  as  well  as  by  the 
highest  motives  of  duty,  to  endeavor  to  understand  the 
true  nature  of  the  points  at  issue,  and  the  great  principles 
of  political  science  on  which  they  should  be  decided.  He 
weighs  the  arguments  of  contending  parties,  as  presented 
at  public  gatherings,  or  through  the  press,  by  which  he  is 
sometimes  brought  into  communion  with  the  foremost 
minds  of  the  land;  he  discusses  them  with  his  companions 
amidst  the  daily  avocations  of  life ;  and,  so  far  as  he  has 
opportunity,  he  is  prompted  to  compare  them  with  the 
lessons  of  history  and  the  teachings  of  the  wise  men  of  old. 
Our  municipal  institutions,  and  the  nice  gradations  by 
which  we  I'ise  from  township  to  county,  state,  and  nation, 
afford,  in  their  various  offices,  a  school  of  training  by  which 
the  humblest  citizen  may  be  fitted  to  become  the  ruler  of 
the  land.  No  university  in  the  world  presents  such  a  course 
of  instruction  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  political  science, 
as  our  institutions  bring  home  to  every  citizen.  We  cannot 
boast  that  the  lesson  is  always  correctly  learned,  that  the 
right  answer  is  always  given  to  the  problem  before  us;  but* 
as  an  educating  agency,  as  a  means  of  developing  the  in- 
tellectual energy  and  acumen  of  the  whole  people,  we  can 


11 

hardly  over-estimate  the  efficiency  and  the  vakie  of  this 
feature  in  onr  political  system.  Abraham  Lincoln  took  the 
full  course  in  this  college  of  the  people.  In  early  manhood 
he  was  conspicuous  in  his  neighborhood  as  an  adherent  of 
the  political  principles  of  Henry  Clay.  He  served  as  a 
representative  both  in  the  legislature  of  his  State  and  in 
the  National  Congress;  he  was  a  candidate  for  elector  in 
six  successive  Presidential  elections,  and  before  one  of  them 
he  traversed  the  whole  State  of  Illinois  and  part  of  In- 
diana, addressing  large  gatherings  of  the  people  in  favor 
of  the  measures  of  the  Whig  party  and  its  candidate,  the 
gallant  statesman  of  Kentucky.  After  the  rise  of  the  Ee- 
publican  party,  he  canvassed  his  State  on  several  occasions 
in  favor  of  its  principles  with  great  ability  and  success. 
Everybody  remembers  the  friendly  but  spirited  contest 
between  him  and  Senator  Douglas  in  1858,  in  which  his 
abilities  stood  triumphantly  the  test  of  comparison  with 
one  of  the  most  adroit  of  debaters  and  practised  of  politi- 
cians ;  at  the  same  time  that  the  largeness  and  soundness 
of  the  views  of  public  polic}^  he  enunciated  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  country,  and  did  much  to  secure  for  him 
his  subsequent  nomination  and  election  as  President.  His 
speech  in  New  York,  early  in  the  year  1860,  shows  how 
thoroughly  he  had  studied  the  constitutional  history  of  the 
country,  and  the  sagacity  with  which  he  could  detect  the 
sophisms  of  demagogues  and  of  the  slaves  of  slavery.  Truly, 
a  man  who,  in  a  nation  like  ours,  and  in  a  period  like  that 
through  which  we  have  been  passing  for  the  last  thirt}' 
years,  with  no  motive  but  pure  patriotism  and  the  love  of 
truth,  brings,  as  did  Abraham  Lincoln,  a  clear  head  and  an 
honest  heart  to  the  diligent  consideration  of  great  political 
questions,  bearing  his  part  in  the  advocacy  of  correct  views 
before  the  people,  and  in  the  labors  of  legislation,  trains 
and  develops  some  of  his  noblest  powers,  and  acquires,  in 
the  school  of  j^ractice,  an  education  which  might  well  be- 


12 

envied  by  many  a  frequenter  of  academic  libraries  and  lec- 
ture-rooms. 

I  assert,  then,  that  our  hero  was  a  man  of  no  mean 
education.  Yet,  I  will  not  deny  that  in  his  speeches  and 
his  writings,  the  want  of  scholastic  training  is  sometimes 
manifest,  and  that  I  could  wish  that  to  him  had  been 
granted  the  graces  of  more  finished  culture.  But,  as  I 
said  before,  how  petty  are  such  graces  in  comparison  with 
those  grand  qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  rendered 
him  the  one  man  worthy  to  lead  our  nation  through  its 
agony  of  trial,  and  have  made  his  name  immortal !  In  all 
things,  moreover,  the  great  law  of  compensation  prevails. 
If  what  we  might  call  more  favorable  circumstances  had 
endowed  him  with  all  the  learning  of  the  schools,  he 
might  have  lost  one  of  the  most  valuable  parts  of  his 
education.  For  education  is  not  simply  the  training  of  the 
mind  in  literature  and  science.  It  comprehends,  in  its 
true  sense,  everything  that  develops  the  powers  of  man 
and  evokes  his  energies;  everything  that  shapes  his  pur- 
poses, fixes  his  habits,  and  moulds  his  character,  whether 
in  his  physical,  his  intellectual,  or  his  moral  being.  And 
Lincoln  had,  in  his  youth,  three  schoolmasters,  whose 
lessons  perchance  he  could  not  afford  to  lose,  even  if  the 
highest  refinements  of  the  university  were  offered  him 
in  exchange, — three  stern,  but  profitable  teachers.  Poverty, 
Hardship,  and  Toil.  These  knit  his  frame,  and  gave  him 
that  strength  of  nerve  and  sinew,  without  which  he  could 
never  have  borne  the  burden  of  those  cares  of  state,  the 
heaviest  ever  laid  on  mortal  brain ;  these  taught  him 
energy  and  self-reliance, — two  of  the  best  lessons  man 
can  learn, — endowed  him  with  that  strength  which  can 
only  be  gained  by  surmounting  obstacles, — gave  him  a 
knowledge  of  men  and  things,  such  as  few  attain,  except 
those  who  like  him  have  to  hew  their  own  pathway 
through  the  forests  of  life, — and  taught  him  to  sympathize 


13 


with  the  toiling  millions,  who  constitute  the  larger  portion 
of  our  race. 

Nay,  even  as  regards  his  intellectual  culture,  in  this  age, 
when  the  multiplicity  of  books  presents  such  strong  temp- 
tations to  superficial  reading,  and  gaining  a  smattering  of 
many  things  rather  than  proficienc}^  in  a  few,  that  was 
hardly  an  unkind  fortune  which  supplied  his  eager  mind 
in  boyhood  with  few  books,  especially  when  they  were  so 
fit :  the  Bible,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  ^sop's  Fables,  the  Bio- 
graphies of  Washington,  Clay,  and  Franklin,  and  Plu- 
tarch's Lives  of  the  illustrious  men  of  Greece  and  Rome ! 
To  these  books,  thoroughly  read,  some  of  them  over  and 
over  again,  and  well  digested,  as  they  were,  how  much 
may  he  have  been  indebted  lor  that  fixedness  of  moral  and 
religious  principle,  that  pure  and  lofty  patriotism,  that 
shrewdness  and  sagacity,  and  that  fondness  for  apologue 
and  racy,  telling  illustration,  for  which  he  was  so  dis- 
tinguished. 

But  neither  the  advantages  of  poverty,  nor  those  of 
wealthy  neither  hardships  nor  abundant  facilities,  develop 
a  mind  and  character  nobly  and  well,  unless  there  be  a 
persistent  will,  and  an  earnest  diligence  behind.  Herein 
is  the  true  secret  of  Lincoln's  advancement  and  success; 
herein  is  he  an  example  for  all  of  us,  whether  our  circum- 
stances are  alike  or  unlike  his.  I  grant  that  he  was 
endowed  by  nature  with  a  mind  of  rare  sagacity,  penetra- 
tion, clearness,  and  vigor.  Providence,  that  designed  him 
for  great  services,  had  given  him  capacities  for  service 
beyond  those  of  most  men.  But,  in  all  cases,  what  men 
are,  depends  less  upon  the  measure  of  their  natural  endow- 
ments, than  upon  what  they  do  for  themselves.  It  is  in 
the  earnestness  of  his  self-culture,  and  in  his  faithfulness 
in  occupying  the  talents  with  which  he  was  intrusted,  that 
Lincoln  merits  our  highest  praise  and  our  diligent  imita- 
tion.    Few   men  have  ever  exhibited  greater   energy   of 


14 

character  and  persistency  of  purpose.  It  is  recorded  of 
him  that,  from  childhood,  he  never  allowed  himself  to  hear 
anything,  or  read  anything,  without  thoroughly  under- 
standing it ;  and  "  when,  in  listening  to  a  conversation,  he 
had  any  difficulty  in  ascertaining  what  people  meant,  if  he 
retired  to  rest,  he  could  not  sleep  till  he  tried  to  under- 
stand the  precise  points  intended;  and  when  understood? 
to  convey  it  in  a  clear  manner  to  those  who  had  listened 
with  him.''  He  early  adopted  the  practice  of  writing  out 
a  synopsis  of  everything  he  read;  one  of  the  best  aids  in 
fixing  facts  and  arguments  in  the  memory.  How  many  of 
us  can  boast  habits  of  close  attention  and  diligent  research, 
which,  like  his,  never  allow  anything  to  pass  us  uncom_ 
prehended  and  unmastered  ?  Observe,  again,  the  diligence 
with  which,  under  the  most  untoward  circumstances, — 
studying,  in  a  floorless  cabin,  by  the  light  of  a  log  fire, — 
he  learned  to  read  and  write,  unravelled  the  mysteries  of 
arithmetic  and  grammar;  mastered,  in  early  manhood,  the 
sublime  truths  of  geometry,  and  at  last,  the  profound 
science  of  law, — walking  to  Springfield,  twenty-two  miles, 
and  back  again  in  the  same  day,  to  bring  home  the  four 
volumes  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  w^hich  were  kindly 
lent  him.  In  preparing  himself  for  his  late  chosen  profession, 
with  resolute  purpose  he  denied  himself  many  social  enjoy- 
ments, and  pursued  his  studies  while  others  revelled,  or 
while  others  slept.  "  You  will  find  the  whole  of  my  early 
life,"  said  Lincoln  to  a  friend,  "  in  a  single  line  of  Gray's 
Elegy, 

'  The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor.'  " 

But  if  short  and  simple,  in  his  case  the  annals  were 
crowded  to  glorious  fulness,  by  the  earnest  labors  which 
built  up  nobleness,  wisdom,  and  strength.  His  successful 
career  is  but  another  illustration  of  the  truth,  so  old  and 
trite,  but  which  most  of  us  need  to  have  dinned  in  our 


15 

ears  again,  nnd  again,  and  again,  that,  while  nothing  great 
can  be  done  without  diligent  labor,  energy,  and  perse- 
verance,— with  them,  there  is  nothing  too  arduous  for  a 
manly  soul. 

But  especially  does  our  fallen  chief  deserve  our  admira- 
tion, for  the  integrity  of  his  moral  character,  and  the 
generous  qualities  of  his  heart.  "  He  is  the  best  man," 
said  Secretary  Sesvard,  "that  I  ever  knew;"  and  this  is 
the  uniform  testimony  of  those  most  familiar  with  him  in 
his  daily  life.  In  childhood  and  youth  he  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  these,  the  sure  pillars  of  his  greatness.  An  obedient 
and  loving  son,  whose  tongue  never  uttered  a  ribald  jest, 
an  oath,  a  slander,  or  a  lie ;  as  he  grew  up  to  manhood,  he 
passed  unscathed  through  all  temptations  to  intemperance 
and  excess,  and  his  incorruptible  honesty  became  a  pro- 
verb among  his  companions.  At  the  same  time,  he  had 
none  of  the  austerity  by  which  the  fair  face  of  virtue  is 
sometimes  clouded ;  cheerful,  genial,  witty,  he  was  a  good 
fellow  and  a  kindly  friend.  His  heart  was  full  of  kind 
feeling  for  everybody;  and  his  benevolence  and  his  sym- 
pathies were  never  appealed  to  in  vain. 

Let  us  consider  him  next  in  his  character  as  a  statesman 
and  a  patriot.  The  responsibilities  of  American  citizen- 
ship did.  not  rest  upon  him  in  vain.  From  his  earliest 
manhood,  he  made  it  one  of  his  first  objects  to  understand 
the  nature  of  the  political  questions  presented  to  the  peo- 
ple for  their  decision,  and  to  gain  sound  views  in  regard 
to  the  great  principles  of  government  and  political  science. 
In  the  foundation  of  our  national  government,  he  reve- 
rently recognized  the  hand  of  Providence ;  and  with  so- 
lemn earnestness  he  asked  the  question.  What  are  the 
merits  and  what  the  defects  of  our  political  system  ?  He 
was  not  long  in  seeing  that  for  our  best  success  as  a  nation 
we  are  indebted  to  our  recognition, — in  conjunction  with 
respect  for  law  and  the  maintenance  of  public  order, — of 
the  Christian  principle  of  the  dignity  of  man  as  man;  and 


16 

that  it  is  just  where  wo  have  forgotten  or  disregarded  that 
principle,  that  our  worst  failures  have  arisen.  When  he  was 
received  in  Independence  Hall,  on  his  way  to  the  Capitol, 
he  said:  "I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what  great 
principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  Confederacy  so  long 
together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the  separation 
of  the  Colonies  from  the  mother-land,  but  that  sentiment 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave  liberty, 
not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the 
world  for  all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  pro- 
mise that  in  due  time  the  weights  would  be  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  all  men."  And  previously,  when  he  canvass- 
ed Illinois  with  Senator  Douglas,  he  had  said,  after  quoting 
the  eloquent  statement  of  the  equal  rights  of  all  men  to 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  which  was  pro- 
claimed to  the  world  by  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  :  "  This  was  their  majestic  interpretation  of 
the  economy  of  the  universe.  This  was  their  lofty,  and 
wise,  and  noble  understanding  of  the  justice  of  the  Crea- 
tor to  His  creatures.  Yes,  gentlemen,  to  all  His  creatures, 
to  the  whole  great  family  of  man.  In  their  enlightened  be- 
lief, nothing  stamped  with  the  Divine  image  and  likeness 
was  sent  into  the  world  to  be  trodden  on,  and  degraded,  and 
imbruted  by  its  fellows.  They  grasped  not  only  the  race 
of  men  then  living,  but  they  reached  forward  and  seized 

upon  the  farthest  posterity "Wise  statesmen  as  they 

were,  they  knew  the  tendency  of  prosperity  to  breed  ty- 
rants, and  so  they  established  these  great  self-evident 
truths,  that  when,  in  the  distant  future,  some  man,  some 
faction,  some  interest,  should  set  up  the  doctrine  that  none 
but  rich  men,  or  none  but  white  men,  or  none  but  Anglo- 
Saxon  white  men,  were  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  their  posterity  might  look  up  again 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  take  courage  to 
renew  the  battle  which  their  fathers  began,  so  that  truth, 


17 

and  justice,  and  mercy,  and  all  the  humane  and  Christian 
virtues  might  not  be  extinguished  from  the  land;  so  that 
no  man  would  hereafter  dare  to  limit  and  circumscribe  the 
great  principles  on  which  the  temple  of  liberty  was  being 
built." 

But  in  his  true  democracy — how  different  from  the  spu- 
rious creed  which  has  often  claimed  that  name ! — he  was 
no  extremist,  or  agrarian,  or  fanatic.  He  would  not  pull 
down  the  great,  but  he  would  raise  the  lowly.  Those  were 
wise  words  that  he  addressed,  after  an  allusion  to  the  riots 
in  New  York,  to  a  committee  of  workingmen  who  visited 
him  while  he  was  President : 

"  Property  is  the  fruit  of  labor;  property  is  desirable; 
it  is  a  positive  good  in  the  world.  That  some  should  be 
rich,  shows  that  others  may  become  rich,  and  hence  is  just 
encouragement  to  industry  and  enterprise.  Let  not  him 
who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of  another,  but  let 
him  la'bor  diligently  and  build  one  for  himself;  thus,  by 
example,  assuring  that  his  own  shall  be  safe  from  violence 
when  built." 

ISTor  did  he  suppose  that  the  equality  before  the  law 
w^hich  our  fathers  declared  to  be  the  birthright  of  all  men, 
implied  equality  of  merit  and  of  claims  to  distinction  and 
influence,  any  more  than  it  does  of  mental  endowment,  or 
physical  strength,  or  inherited  wealth.  Virtue  and  wis- 
dom he  recognized  as  the  qualities  which  should  determine 
precedence  among  men;  he  acknowledged,  too,  that  the 
due  influence  of  learning  and  of  wealth  is  founded  in  the 
very  nature  of  things ;  he  only  contended  that  no  artifi- 
cial, factitious  advantages,  should  be  allowed  to  any  set  or 
class  of  men ;  that  neither  race,  nor  creed,  nor  lineage, 
should  draw  distinctions  between  men  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law;  but,  in  his  own  clear  and  simple  words,  "that  the 
weights  should  be  lifted  from  all  shoulders,  and  that  all 
men  should  have  an  equal  chance." 

2 


18 

Ko  wonder,  with  his  clear  head  and  sound  logic,  that 
he  very  early  saw  the  flagrant  inconsistency  of  human 
slavery  with  the  theory  of  our  institutions,  as  well  as  its 
inherent  injustice.  One  of  his  first  political  acts,  in  the 
legislature  of  Illinois  in  1837,  was  a  protest  against  slavery; 
in  the  national  Congress  he  was  an  earnest  opponent  of 
the  encroachments  of  this  fell  system ;  and  in  his  political 
campaigns,  he  was  faithful  to  his  anti-slavery  principles, 
even  in  the  most  uncultivated  and  benighted  districts, 
where  their  advocacy  called  forth  the  bitterest  prejudice 
and  odium. 

Yet,  in  his  opposition  to  slavery,  as  in  all  things,  he 
showed  a  just  moderation.  He  scrupulously  respected  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  States,  he  claimed  no  right  to 
interfere  with  slavery,  except  so  far  as,  transcending  the 
limits  of  State  politics,  it  claimed  to  control  the  policy  of 
the  nation,  or  demanded  permission  to  extend  itself  over 
territories  as  yet  unpolluted  by  the  steps  of  a  bondman. 
And  in  thus  restricting  the  progress  of  slavery,  he  was 
but  following  the  example  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  founders  of  the  Government.  In  his  speech 
at  the  Cooper  Institute,  he  has  collected  the  facts  on  this 
subject,  showing  that  the  views  of  the  Republican  party 
were  simply  a  conservative  return  to  the  principles  of  our 
early  statesmen.  Southern  as  well  as  Northern.  Indeed,  it 
was  from  the  recorded  views  and  acts  of  the  great  states- 
men of  the  South,  that  he  imbibed  his  opposition  to  sla- 
very, and  his  determination  to  resist  its  progress. 

**  Great  Washington's  indignant  shade 
Forever  urged  him  on ; 
He  heard,  by  Monticello's  glade, 
The  voice  of  Jefferson." 

But  what  is  particularly  admirable,  is  the  fact  that  his 
hatred  of  slavery  never  degenerated  into  hatred  of  the 
slaveholder.     He  waged  war  with  sin,  not  with  persons ; 


19 

recognizing  the  truth  that  men  might  blindly  uphold  what 
he  saw  was  wrong,  and  yet  be  as  good  men  as  himself. 
Both  the  firmness  and  moral  courage  with  which  he  main- 
tained his  views  in  the  face  of  obloquy,  and  the  Christian 
gentleness  and  charity  with  w^hich  he  held  them,  deserve 
the  grateful  recognition  of  every  section  in  our  reunited 
land. 

And  if  Lincoln  had  the  moderation  of  charity,  he  had 
the  moderation  of  wisdom  as  well.  He  belonged  to  that 
best  class  of  statesmen  in  free,  constitutional  govern- 
ments, the  advocates  of  Conservative  Progress.  To  re- 
tain all  that  is  good  in  old  institutions,  to  get  rid  of  all 
that  is  bad,  and  adopt  whatever  improvements  the  times 
demand,  yet  never  being  in  too  great  haste  to  innovate, 
and  always  paying  due  regard  to  the  claims  of  j^rescrip- 
tion  and  usage, — this  was,  iii  brief,  his  political  creed. 

His  childhood  spent  in  a  slave  State,  his  manhood  in  a 
free, — well  versed  in  our  constitutional  history,  and  under- 
standing: both  the  nature  of  our  institutions  and  the  cha- 
racter  of  our  people,  with  sagacious  prescience  he  foresaw 
the  inevitable  conflict  which  must  arise  between  institu- 
tions founded  upon  slave  labor  and  those  founded  upon 
paid  labor,  and  foretold  that  the  latter  would  be  victo- 
rious. Firm  was  his  faith  in  God  and  in  the  right;  hence 
was  it  that  in  the  four  long,  weary,  anxious  years  of  civil 
war,  he  bore  up  trustful  and  undaunted  while  so  many 
doubted  and  feared. 

Let  us  consider  him,  further,  in  that  capacity,  in  which 
he  goes  down  in  history  immortal,  as  the  ruler  and  pre- 
server of  his  country,  through  fearful  storm  and  peril.  In 
this  position  he  had  a  conspicuous  stage  for  the  exercise  of 
that  wisdom  and  those  virtues  which  distinguished  him, 
but  which,  had  they  not  been  called  forth  and  tested  by 
such  occasion  and  opportunity,  might  have  made  him  but 
the  "village  Hampden,"  the  great  man  of  some  little  com- 


20 

mimity,  instead  of  one  of  the  foremost  figures  in  the  grand 
pageant  of  human  history. 

The  very  mode  in  which  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
his  office,  inspired  good  men  with  confidence.  It  was  plain 
that  he  solemnly  felt  the  vast  responsibilities  imposed 
upon  him,  and  that  he  looked  devoutly  to  the  Supreme 
E-uler  of  the  world  for  direction,  w^isdom,  and  strength. 
In  that  touching  and  tender  farewell  which  he  addressed 
to  his  old  friends  and  neighbors  in  Springfield,  assembled 
at  the  railway  station,  on  his  departure  for  Washington, 
he  declared  that  he  placed  all  his  reliance  in  the  Divine 
Being  for  support,  adding  these  memorable  words:  "I 
hope  that  you,  my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive 
that  Divine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot  succeed, 
but  with  which  success  is  certain."  The  sincerity  and  the 
depth  of  his  trust  in  the  Almighty,  appears  in  frequent  de- 
clarations in  the  addresses  he  gave  to  public  bodies  and 
assemblies  on  his  progress  to  the  Capitol,  as  well  as  during 
the  course  of  his  tried  and  arduous  administration. 

Again,  he  had  confidence  in  the  substantial  good  sense, 
intelligence,  and  virtue  of  the  people, — a  confidence  in 
which  many  timid  men  were  sadly  wanting,  but  which  the 
event  proved  not  to  be  misplaced. 

Another  trait  which  he  had  occasion  to  exhibit  before 
reaching  Washington,  was  that  of  personal  courage, — not 
mere  brute  courage,  but  the  courage  which  springs  from 
moral  principle, — a  noble  trait  of  character,  when  employ- 
ed to  lead  a  man  boldly  and  unflinchingly  in  the  path  of 
duty.  The  deep-laid  plot  to  assassinate  him  near  Balti- 
more, or  on  his  passage  through  that  city,  detected  through 
the  vigilance  of  President  Felton,  of  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Eailroad,  was  communicated  to  him,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  before  he  made  that  speech  in  Independence 
Hall,  on  the  birthday  of  Washington,  in  which  he  said, — 
speaking  of  that  principle  which  was  the  central  point  of 


21 

his  political  creed,  the  equal  rights  of  all  men  to  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness, — "If  this  country  cannot  be 
saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say 
I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender 
it;"  soon  afterwards  adding,  "I  have  said  nothing  but 
what  I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of 
Almighty  God,  to  die  by."  He  had,  very  naturally,  asked 
himself  the  question,  "Why  is  it  that  any  party  of  my  fel- 
low-citizens, for  the  welfare  of  all  of  whom  I  have  the  same 
sincere  desire,  should  seek  my  life?"  and  the  answer  had 
been,  "Because  I  am  the  advocate  of  those  principles  of 
impartial  freedom  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  whole 
fabric  of  government."  We  may  imagine  the  earnestness 
with  which  he  said  to  himself,  "Never,  never  will  I  surren- 
der those  principles:  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on 
this  spot."  His  were  all  the  resolution,  the  heroism,  the 
devotion,  and  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  martyr;  and  when 
he  went  to  our  Capitol,  and  all  the  time  he  felt,  and 
thought,  and  worked  for  us  in  the  chair  of  state,  he  was 
holding  his  life  in  his  hands.  Lover,  too,  of  the  people  as 
he  was,  confiding  and  trusting  in  them  almost  without 
measure,  we  can  imagine  the  grief  he  must  have  felt  at 
learning  that  any  of  them  could  be  so  base  as  to  plot 
against  him,  whose  sole  aim  was  to  do  them  all  the  good 
in  his  power.  But  this  was  grief,  rather  than  indignation. 
Who  doubts  that  for  the  conspirators  themselves,  his  would 
have  been  the  sublime  prayer,  "Father,  forgive  them,  for 
the}^  know  not  what  they  do!"  Those  of  us  whose  privi- 
lege it  was  to  gaze  upon  his  face  as  he  passed  our  station 
on  the  same  morning  in  which  he  had  made  that  speech  in 
Independence  Hall,  remember  an  expression  of  mingled 
earnestness,  tenderness,  and  solemnity,  which  inspired 
every  beholder  with  the  utmost  confidence  in  the  man, 
and  almost  with  veneration  and  awe. 

I  may  remark,  if  you  will  allow  me  a  moment's  digres- 


22 

sion,  that  there  was  in  the  face  of  our  martyred  Presi- 
dent, and  in  his  soft,  lustrous,  and  beautiful  eyes,  a 
delicate,  indefinable  expression  of  intelligence,  as  well  as 
of  goodness,  to  which  none  of  his  photographs — with  all 
their  "brutal  fidelity,"  as  Goldwin  Smith  so  well  calls  it, 
to  the  mere  material  features,  without  the  light  of  the  eyes 
and  the  play  of  the  soul, — do  anj^thing  like  justice.  Every 
discerning  beholder  would  "  easily  believe  him  a  good  man, 
gladly  a  great  man." 

It  was  with  great  reluctance,  as  I  happen  to  know, 
that  he  consented  to  the  change  in  the  mode  and  time 
of  his  journey,  by  which  the  foul  plot  was  frustrated.  He 
insisted  upon  adhering  to  the  published  programme,  until 
overborne  by  the  few  gentlemen  in  this  vicinity  who  were 
cognizant  of  the  conspiracy,  and  finally  by  messengers 
sent  to  Harrisburg  by  General  Scott  and  Senator  Seward. 
It  is  needless  to  repeat  the  fact,  that  there  is  no  truth 
whatever  in  the  story  of  his  going  to  Washington  in  dis- 
guise. That  mode  of  seeking  escape  from  j)eril  has  been 
recently  illustrated  by  the  champion  of  a  different  civili- 
zation,— illustrated,  too,  in  a  mode  surpassing  the  wild- 
est inventions  of  sensation  penny-a-liners  in  the  case 
of  President  Lincoln.  In  his  whole  life  at  Washington, 
surrounded  by  concealed  and  open  foes,  and  often  within 
striking  distance  from  the  camp  of  the  enemy;  in  the  free 
access  to  his  person  allowed  at  all  times;  in  his  walks, 
often  late  at  night,  between  his  house  and  the  departments 
of  his  secretaries;  in  his  visit  to  Eichmond,  before  the  fires 
of  intense  hatred  had  had  time  to  smoulder,  he  manifested 
the  same  confiding  fearlessness.  He  was  too  good  a  man 
himself,  to  be  very  suspicious  of  others;  and  he  was  too 
much  engrossed  in  his  cares  for  his  country  to  have  much 
thought  for  his  personal  safety. 

And  this  was  but  one  of  the  modes  in  which  he  showed 
his  entire  unselfishness.  Truly,  our  honest,  homely,  home- 
spun hero,  was  as  selfless  as  the  Arthur  of  romance.     In 


23 

one  of  his  addresses  to  the  people  in  1858,  he  said  :  ''You 
may  do  anything  with  me  you  choose,  if  you  will  but  heed 
these  sacred  principles.  You  may  not  only  defeat  me  for 
the  Senate,  but  you  may  take  me  and  put  me  to  death. 
While  pretending  no  indifference  to  earthly  honors,  I  do 
claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  contest  by  something  higher 
than  an  anxiety  for  office.  I  charge  you  to  drop  every 
paltry  and  insignificant  thought  for  any  man's  success. 
It  is  nothing;  I  am  nothing;  Judge  Douglas  is  nothing. 
But  do  not  destroy  that  immortal  emblem  of  humanity, 
the  Declaration  of  American  Independence."  The  same 
feeling  of  the  insignificance  of  self  as  compared  with  the 
great  principles  at  stake  in  his  election,  appears  in  his 
public  expressions  on  various  occasions,  on  both  of  the 
times  that  he  was  chosen  President.  The  honors  which 
were  given  him  he  considered  as  paid  only  to  the  majest}^ 
of  the  nation,  and  the  great  cause  which  it  was  given  him 
to  represent.  When  informed  of  his  late  election,  on  the 
night  of  election  day,  he  said  :  "  I  am  thankful  to  God  for 
this  aj^proval  of  the  people ;  but  while  deeply  grateful  for 
this  mark  of  their  confidence  in  me,  if  I  know  my  heart 
my  gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint  of  personal  triumph. 
I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one  opposed  to  me. 
It  is  no  pleasure  for  me  to  triumph  over  any  one,  but  I 
give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evidence  of  the 
people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free  government  and  the 
rights  of  humanity." 

As  a  ruler,  Lincoln  exhibited  the  prime  virtue  of  a  con- 
stitutional magistrate,  respect  for  the  law,  and  constant 
recognition  of  all  the  rights  guaranteed  to  the  people.  He 
would  not  even  do  good,  if  it  led  him  beyond  the  line 
within  which  his  just  authority  was  circumscribed.  But 
at  the  same  time  he  was  no  martinet,  no  legal  pedant. 
Sagaciously  reading  the  true  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  he 
saw  that  it  empowered  him  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas 


24 

corpus,  and  to  use  all  the  means  for  the  suppression  of  the 
rebellion  which  are  recognized  by  the  common  law  of  civil 
societies.  And  when  States,  by  plunging  into  war,  had 
forfeited  the  guarantees  of  the  Constitution  to  loyal  and 
peaceful  States,  he  used  those  rights  with  which  the  na- 
tional authority  is  invested  by  the  law  of  nature  and  of 
nations,  gladly  availing  himself  of  this  legitimate  authority 
to  perform  one  of  the  sublimest  acts  in  human  history, — the 
act  which  struck  the  shackles  from  four  millions  of  slaves. 
Earely  has  the  opportunity  of  a  deed  of  such  sublime  be- 
neficence, such  far-reaching  consequences,  such  undying 
renown,  been  granted  to  a  ruler  among  men;  but  if  the 
occasion  was  a  rare  one,  it  found  an  agent  of  rare  worth  and 
fitness.  Fitting  indeed  it  was,  that  he  whose  whole  political 
life  had  been  spent  in  the  consistent  advocacy  of  impartial 
liberty  and  the  rights  of  man,  the  great  longing  of  whose 
soul  had  been,  as  he  himself  declared,  "  that  all  men, 
everywhere,  might  be  free,''  whose  symj)athy  for  the  op- 
pressed, moreover,  was  so  single  and  so  pure,  untainted 
with  partisan  feeling  or  sectional  bitterness,  with  aught  of 
malice  or  uncharitableness,  should  have  been  selected  as 
the  instrument  in  that  wonderful  work  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. And  patient,  tried,  laborious  as  he  was,  bent  down 
beneath  his  fearful  weight  of  anxieties,  so  that  a  touching- 
sadness  became  the  master  expression  of  a  face  which 
faithfully  told  the  feelings  of  the  heart,  grateful  let  us  be 
that  he  was  permitted  the  high  and  holy  joy,  the  deep,  su- 
preme satisfaction,  which  must  have  given  the  hour  in  which 
he  wrote  the  Proclamation  of  Freedom,  a  solemn  happiness 
well  worth  the  price  of  even  a  lifetime  of  pain  and  care.  I 
deem  it  by  much  the  grandest  feature  in  this  act  of  emanci- 
pation, as  far  as  the  President  Avas  concerned,  that  it  was 
both  the  fruit  and  the  triumph  of  the  moral  and  religious 
principles  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  which  he  had  con- 
scientiously adopted  and  faithfuly  maintained.   It  was  the 


25 

triumph  of  Eight,  not  merely  of  expediency  or  of  necessity, 
military  or  political ;  but  simply  as  an  act  of  wise  and 
successful  statesmanship,  leaving  out  of  view  higher  con- 
siderations, it  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  in  historj^,  and 
will  carry  the  name  of  its  author  with  honor  down  to  the 
end  of  time. 

Another  quality  in  which  President  Lincoln  was  pre- 
eminent is  his  rare  clemency.  It  was  a  great  pleasure 
to  him,  when  he  could  do  it  consistent^  with  his  duty,  to 
sign  a  pardon  or  reprieve.  "  It  makes  me  rested,  after  a 
hard  day's  work,"  he  said,  "  if  I  can  find  some  good  excuse 
for  saving  a  man's  life,  and  I  go  to  bed  happy  as  I  think 
how  joyous  the  signing  of  my  name  will  make  him  and 
his  family  and  his  friends."  No  less  noteworthy  is  his 
utter  freedom  from  any  feeling  of  hatred  or  malice  or  re- 
venge. Deeply  as  he  felt  the  guilt  of  rebellion,  he  pre- 
ferred to  look  upon  the  rebels  as  misguided,  rather  than 
wicked  men  ;  judging  not  lest  he  should  himself  be  judged. 
But  what  is  particularly  admirable  is  that  this  gentleness 
was  unmixed  with  weakness.  He  was  as  firm  and  unyield- 
ing, as  persistent  and  uncompromising,  as  any  of  the  re- 
nowned men  of  iron  mould,  the  Cromwells  or  the  Jacksons 
of  history ;  but  no  other  ruler,  least  of  all  amidst  the 
strife  and  bitterness  of  civil  war,  was  ever  so  forgiving 
and  so  merciful.  In  giving  him  this  praise,  I  will  make 
no  abatements.  I  consider  this  part  of  his  character  as  an 
application  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  in  the  government 
of  nations,  worthy  to  be  an  example  for  all  ages.  And 
while  I  trust  that  all  that  justice  really  requires  will  be 
done,  in  meting  out  to  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  such 
punishment  as  shall  best  conduce  to  the  j^revention  of 
future  revolts,  I  trust,  too,  that  in  all  the  councils  of  our 
rulers  such  mercy  will  be  ever  exhibited  as  is  worthy  of  a 
Christian  people  and  an  enlightened  age. 

Another  feature  in  our  late  President's  administration 


26 

deserves  our  cordial  ackDOwledgment;  I  mean  his  fall  re- 
cognition of  the  rights  of  conscience,  even  when  they  stood 
in  apparent  opposition  to  measures  which  he  considered  it 
his  highest  duty  to  adopt.  Without  question,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  in  the  recent  rebellion,  made 
the  fullest  recognition  which  has  ever  been  made  of  the 
right  of  men  to  be  relieved  from  military  service,  if  they 
feel  that  their  duty  to  G-od  and  their  own  consxiiences  for- 
bids them  to  take  part  in  war.  Much  of  the  praise  for 
this  wise  action  is  due  to  Congress,  much  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  and,  perhaps,  other  members  of  the  Cabinet;  but 
undoubtedly  much  also  to  the  late  President  himself.  He 
did  not  sneer  at  scruples  which  he  did  not  himself  enter- 
tain; but  understanding  them  fully,  and  respecting  their 
source,  he  received  every  application  for  relief  with  kind- 
ness and  attention,  declaring  that  "for  those  appealing  to 
him  on  conscientious  grounds,  he  should  do  the  best  he 
could  in  his  own  conscience,  and  his  oath  to  the  law." 

Of  high  qualities  of  statesmanship  in  time  of  peace,  our 
late  Chief  Magistrate  gave  clear  indications,  although  he 
had  little  opportunity  to  exercise  them.  Had  he  been  per- 
mitted to  lead  us  through  the  next  four  years,  I  cannot 
doubt  that  he  would  have  shown  great  ability  in  the  work 
of  reorganization,  and  in  fostering  the  great  industrial  in- 
terests of  the  nation,  summoning 

"  War  and  waste, 
To  fruitful  strifes,  and  rivalries  of  peace." 

As  a  member  of  Congress,  he  had  been  an  able  advo- 
cate of  a  wise  system  of  internal  improvements  \  and  in 
almost  the  last  hour  of  his  life,  he  sent  a  message  to  the 
miners  of  Nevada  and  Colorado,  which  evinced  the  far- 
sighted  policy  with  which  he  intended  to  promote  emigra- 
tion to  those  regions,  and  assist  in  developing  their  re- 


27 

sources,  until  America  should  become  "  the  treasury  of  the 
world/' 

To  speak  of  minor  merits  in  such  a  man  would  be  to 
wrong  his  virtues,  were  it  not  that  it  is  in  little  things  af- 
ter all  that  much  of  the  best  excellence  of  human  charac- 
ter consists.  Let  me  remind  you,  then,  of  his  patience, 
and  diligence,  his  habit  of  inquiring  into  the  whole  of  a 
subject,  and  examining  it  on  all  sides,  the  courtesy  and 
attention  with  which  he  listened  to  the  opinions  of  his  op- 
ponents, his  affability  to  all  comers,  his  uniform  good  tem- 
per, kindness,  and  generosity. 

But  his  highest  merit  as  a  statesman  is  the  same  as  his 
highest  merit  as  a  man, — that  his  one  end  and  aim  was  to 
do  what  is  right.  "  It  is  my  earnest  desire,"  he  said  to  a 
delegation  that  visited  him  in  1862,  "  to  know  the  will  of 
Providence  in  this  matter.  And  if  I  can  learn  what  it  is, 
I  will  do  it."  To  another  delegation,  who  urged  him  to 
emancipate  the  slaves,  he  said,  "I  can  assure  you  that  the 
subject  is  on  my  mind,  by  day  and  night,  more  than  any 
other.  Whatever  shall  apjyear  to  be  God's  will^  I  will  do." 
To  some  men,  who,  in  1854,  while  condemning  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  were  still  unwilling  to  advocate 
its  restoration,  lest  they  should  "be  thrown  in  comjDany 
with  the  abolitionists,"  he  said,  "Stand  with  anybody  that 
stands  i^ight.  Stand  with  him  while  he  is  right,  and^a?'if 
with  him  when  he  goes  ivrong"  Speaker  Colfax  reports 
that  once,  speaking  of  an  eminent  statesman,  the  Presi- 
dent said :  "  When  a  question  confronts  him,  he  always 
and  naturally  argues  it  from  the  stand-point  of  which  is 
the  better  policy;  but  with  me,  my  only  desire  is  to  see 
what  is  right."  "And  this,"  the  Speaker  adds,  "is  the 
key  to  his  life." 

1  come  now  to  consider  President  Lincoln  in  the  hiiJ-hest 
of  all  relations, — those  he  bore  to  his  Maker.  And  first, 
from  what  I  can  learn  of  his  life,  I  cannot  doubt  that  he 


28 

was  always  a  religious  man.  Tauo-ht  at  his  mother's  knee 
to  pray,  from  childhood  an  habitual  reader-  of  the  Holy 
Bible,  accustomed  to  test  all  measures  by  their  conformity 
to  the  will  of  God  and  His  justice,  careful  to  walk  before 
men  in  accordance  with  His  law,  looking  up  to  Him  with 
faith  and  confidence  as  the  Preserver  and  Protector  of 
good  men  and  just  nations,  his  whole  life  and  character 
exhibited  the  restraining  and  the  moulding  power  of  reli- 
gious principle.  In  sj)eaking,  afterwards,  of  the  extraor- 
dinary difficulties  at  the  beginning  of  his  administration, 
he  said:  "I  was  early  brought  to  a  lively  reflection,  that 
nothing  would  succeed,  without  direct  assistance  of 
the  Almighty.  I  have  often  wished  that  I  was  a  more 
devout  man  than  I  am;  nevertheless,  amid  the  greatest 
difficulties  of  my  administration,  when  I  could  not  see  any 
other  resort,  I  would  place  my  whole  reliance  in  God, 
knowing  all  would  go  well,  and  that  He  would  decide  for 
the  right."  And  oh !  happiest  among  all  the  thickly-clus- 
tered glories  of  his  honored  life,  sweetest  of  the  consola- 
tions which  abide  with  us  now  that  he  is  gone — chastened 
in  the  school  of  bitter  trial  and  overwhelming  care,  and 
visited  in  mercy  by  the  Spirit  of  Him  whose  righteousness 
he  strove  to  fulfil  before  men,  ere  the  end  came, — so  sad,  but 
sad  only  for  us. — he  could  say,  "  I  know  that  my  Eedeemer 
liveth,'^  he  knew,  as  we  reverently  trust,  that  his  sins  had 
been  washed  away,  he  loved  his  Saviour,  lived  in  con- 
stant communion  with  Him,  and  received  at  His  hands  the 
bounties  of  grace,  mercy,  and  peace. 

For  such  a  man,  for  such  faithful  and  unprecedented  ser- 
vices, had  America  no  better  a  reward  to  give  than  a  bul- 
let, shot  from  behind  his  back?  But  I  cannot  trust  myself 
to  speak  of  that  scene  to  which  my  thoughts  never  revert 
without  a  chill  of  horror.  "Useless"  was  the  deed,  even 
for  the  vile  cause  it  was  intended  to  serve;  and  nameless 
be  the  doer  forevermore.   I  cannot  conceive  how  any  man 


29 

of  heart  or  sense  could  yield  to  the  prurient  curiosity 
which  creates  a  demand  for  the  portraits  of  the  wretched 
malefactor,  or  the  details  of  his  disreputable  life.  Eeturn- 
ing  to  the  question  I  have  asked,  I  vindicate  my  country 
from  the  charge  of  ingratitude  and  insensibility.  The 
anomalous  act  of  a  moral  maniac  shall  not  obscure  the 
splendor  of  that  tribute  which  she  pays  her  preserver  from 
her  heart  of  hearts.  And  of  him,  fondly  and  regretfully 
as  we  may  picture  the  happiness  which  might  have  await- 
ed him  in  four  j^ears  of  peacefijl  rule,  and  afterwards  in 
honored  retirement,  sinking  at  last,  like  Washington,  in 
ripe  old  age,  to  rest,  amidst  a  nation's  blessings  and  a  na- 
tion's tears,  yet  may  we  not  say,  as  was  said  of  the  great 
and  good  Agricola,  in  Eome,  "Tu  vero  felix,  non  vitse  tan- 
tum  claritate,  sed  etiam  opportunitate  mortis."  "Happy 
not  only  in  the  glory  of  thy  life,  but  also  in  the  timeliness 
of  thy  death."  The  work  was  substantially  accomplished, 
his  country  was  saved;  and  a  joy  unspeakable,  as  those 
who  saw  his  face  report,  had  already  chased  from  his  coun- 
tenance the  clouds  of  sorrow  and  of  care  which  through 
four  years  of  agony  had  been  gathering  upon  it.  He  had 
walked  the  streets  of  the  capital  of  the  rebellion,  without 
the  pride,  but  with  the  power,  of  a  conqueror.  He  had 
left  his  countrymen,  in  his  last  Inaugural  Address,  a  most 
precious  legacy,  of  all  state  papers  the  most  fully  per- 
meated with  the  spirit  of  Chi-istianity.  His  last  signature 
to  an  act  of  Congress,  confirmed  the  ordinance  that  our 
coinage  should  henceforth  bear  the  motto,  "In  God  we 
trust;"  his  last  message  was  one  of  symj)athy  with  the 
toiling  miners  of  the  far  West,  and  of  joyful  anticipation  of 
the  development  of  the  vast  mineral  resources  of  our  land; 
and  his  last  act,  through  which  his  life  was  taken,  was 
prompted,  against  much  rehictancy,  by  the  kindly  conside- 
ration, "I  should  be  unwilling  to  have  the  people  disap- 
pointed."   And  so,  trusting  God  and  loving  his  Redeemer, 


30 

rejoicing  in  the  coming  restoration  of  the  nation,  and  the 
freedom  of  the  slave,  looking  forward  with  patriotic  hope 
and  pride  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity  which  shall  bless 
the  reunited  land,  now  that  the  great  source  of  bitterness 
and  contention  has  been  removed,  without  a  taint  of  per- 
sonal triumph,  without  one  selfish,  or  revengeful  feeling^ 
"  with  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  to  all,''  by  a  pain- 
less transition  he  entered  into  rest. 

It  was  in  our  day,  Students  of  Haverford,  that  this  man 
lived,  and  toiled  for  us,  and  died.  At  the  time  of  life  in 
which  the  most  vivid  and  the  most  lasting  impressions  are 
made  upon  the  mind,  jon  have  seen  his  whole  career  as 
ruler  of  the  land,  and  have  watched  with  intensest  interest 
every  step  in  the  great  struggle  which  will  mark  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  our  race.  And  is  there  no  responsibility 
attending  the  high  privilege  of  contemplating  such  a  cha- 
racter in  our  own  time,  and  having  had  before  our  eyes 
such  an  example?  Are  we  not  rebuked  in  the  presence  of 
that  perfect  manliness  and  integrity,  that  simplicity  and 
singleness  of  purpose,  that  modesty  and  unselfishness, 
that  energy  and  fidelity  to  duty,  that  love  of  the  right  and 
supreme  desire  to  do  the  right,  that  faith  in  the  people  and 
in  liberal  principles  of  government,  that  faith,  above  all,  in 
his  Saviour  and  his  God?  Shall  we  not  strive  to  appro- 
priate to  ourselves  some  portion  of  the  lessons  taught  by  his 
simple  and  majestic  virtues?  Shall  we  not  strive  to  be 
worthy  of  such  a  leader,  and  such  a  model?  ISJ^ot  ours  to 
fill  so  conspicuous  a  station,  or  to  play  so  important  a  part 
in  the  affairs  of  men;  yet  the  same  qualities  which  fitted 
him  for  his  sphere,  will  fit  us  for  our  spheres,  and  our  only 
duty  is  to  do  faithfully  that  work  which  is  given  us  to  do. 
How  would  he  have  acted  in  the  place  of  any  one  of  us, — 
how  borne  himself  amid  the  trials  and  responsibilities  by 
which  we  are  from  time  to  time  surrounded?  I  would  not 
speak  in  adulation  of  a  mortal  man.    Human  as  he  wJls,  he 


31 

must  have  had  his  share  of  the  weaknesses  of  human  na- 
ture, although  it  is  hard  to  find  such  in  his  character.  If 
he  could  speak  to  us  from  the  tomb,  he  would  say,  "  Follow 
me  only  so  far  as  I  have  followed  Christ."  Yet  human  ex- 
amples of  excellence  are  salutary  in  encouraging  us  and 
stimulating  us  in  our  attempts  to  imitate  the  highest  ex- 
ample; and,  for  some  of  the  noblest  traits  of  human  cha- 
racter, where  shall  we  find  a  better  model  ? 

I  cannot  forbear  alluding,  before  I  close,  to  a  few  of  the 
lessons  which  we  may  derive  from  the  great  conflict  of  the 
last  four  years,  in  which  our  fallen  chief  held  the  foremost 
place. 

The  first, — and  it  is  one  which  we  would  do  well  to  heed 
in  the  still  undecided  problems  before  us, — is  the  futility 
of  all  attempts  to  allay  contentions  or  avert  difficulties  by 
compromises  and  concessions,  at  the  cost  of  any  sacrifice 
of  the  eternal  principles  of  justice.  This  was  the  sad  mis- 
take even  of  many  honest  men,  who  fancied  that  peace 
and  safety  might  be  bought  by  quietly  waiving  opposition 
to  the  extension  of  slavery  over  free  and  uncontaminated 
ground.  It  should  have  been  enough  for  such  men  to  con- 
sider that,  by  thus  waiving  our  opposition  to  bad  measures, 
which  we  had  both  the  legal  right  and  the  power  to  pre- 
vent, we  became  sharers  in  the  crime. 

Again,  how  monstrous  was  the  delusion  of  those  men 
who  talked  of  silencing  all  agitation,  by  repealing  every 
restriction,  and  allowing  slavery  to  have  its  own  way  in 
all  things  !  I  cannot  better  expose  this  delusion  than  in 
words  which  Lincoln  uttered  in  one  of  his  public  addresses 
in  1854 :  "  Slavery  is  founded  in  the  selfishness  of  man's 
nature;  oj^position  to  it  in  his  love  of  justice.  These  prin- 
ciples are  in  eternal  antagonism;  and  when  brought  into 
collision,  so  fiercely  as  slavery  extension  brings  them, 
shocks,  throes,  and  convulsions  must  ceaselessly  follow. 
Repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise;  repeal  all  compromise; 


32 

repeal  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  repeal  all  past 
history, — you  still  cannot  repeal  human  nature.  It  still  will 
be  the  abundance  of  man's  heart  that  slavery  extension  is 
wrong;  and  out  of  the  abundance  of  his  heart  his  mouth 
will  continue  to  speak/' 

Another  lesson  which  we  have  learned  in  bitter  ex2)erience 
is  the  ruinous  consequences  of  false  political  principles.  The 
cause  of  the  war  was  undoubtedly  the  aggressive  spirit  of 
slavery;  but  the  great  instrument  through  which  the  re- 
bellion was  set  in  motion  and  organized  was  the  pernicious 
doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  as  paramount  to  the  national 
sovereignty.  A  doctrine  so  opposed  to  the  first  principles 
of  political  science,  and  so  fatal  to  all  national  security  and 
stability,  it  would  be  hard  to  devise.  Yet,  enforced  by 
selfish  interest  and  party  feeling,  this  fatal  dogma  was 
adopted  by  large  bodies  of  men,  and  even  whole  communi- 
ties, till  the  humiliating  spectacle  was  presented  to  the 
world — to  my  mind  the  crowning  degradation  of  our  long 
years  of  base  subserviency  and  political  bondage — of  a 
man  who  claimed  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  whole 
country,  sworn  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  its  Con- 
stitution and  its  laws, — uttering,  in  a  message  to  Con- 
gress, a  declaration  so  palpably  absurd  as  this,  that  while 
the  several  States  had  no  right  to  leave  the  Union,  the 
General  Government  had  no  right  and  no  power  to  prevent 
their  leaving  the  Union  ! 

Another  delusion,  founded  in  gross  ignorance  of  the 
political  history  of  the  country,  was  the  denial  of  the  right 
of  the  Government  to  prohibit  slaveholders  to  take  their 
"  property,"  in  the  bodies  of  men,  into  the  Territories. 
Another,  the  supposition  that  any  series  of  concessions 
would  satisfy  the  insatiable  monster.  Slavery,  until  the 
whole  country  was  under  his  feet;  not  seeing,  as  did  the 
clear  head  of  the  Western  statesman,  that,  in  the  inevitable 
conflict  between  the  two  systems  of  civilization,  one  or  the 


33 

other  must  completely  triumph,  so  that  the  country  would 
either  be  all  shive  territory  or  all  free.  Another  still,  was 
distrust  of  the  political  virtue  of  the  men  of  the  free  States, 
doubting  their  caj^acity  of  self-sacriticing  patriotism,  and 
deeming  it  possible  that  they  would  surrender  their  prin- 
ciples rather  than  their  ease. 

Still  another  lesson  is  found  in  the  consideration  that 
the  bloody  strife  might  have  been  averted,  had  the  one 
party  had  from  the  first  the  firmness  to  insist  upon  the 
right,  and  the  other  the  wisdom,  confining  itself  to  the 
sphere  in  which  it  was  left  free  to  act  by  the  Constitution, 
to  attempt  no  aggression  which  would  excite  the  moral 
feeling  and  provoke  the  opposition  of  its  neighbor. 

From  all  these  facts  I  would  draw  a  practical  lesson  for 
ourselves, — a  lesson  wliich  I  deem  it  an  especial  duty  of 
my  office  as  an  instructor  in  a  free  land  to  enforce, — it  is 
the  duty  which  devolves  upon  every  one  of  us,  of  studying 
carefully  and  thoroughly  the  character  of  our  institutions 
and  people,  the  true  principles  of  government  and  social 
science,  and  the  merits  of  the  political  measures  from  time 
to  time  in  dispute  before  us.  It  is  a  sad  thing  for  a  man  not 
to  understand  his  own  times.  Many  a  man  will  tell  you  with 
regret  that  he  voted  against  President  liincoln  at  his  first 
election  from  a  mistaken  conception  of  the  condition  of  the 
country,  of  the  character  and  purposes  of  the  slave  power, 
and  of  the  policy  of  the  different  parties  in  the  canvass.  Let 
us  strive  to  take  such  a  wide,  comprehensive,  and  impartial 
view  of  the  field,  in  all  future  contests,  as  shall  keep  us  from 
such  error.  To  that  end  we  should  endeavor  to  attain  sound 
judgments  upon  all  the  questions  of  political  economy  and 
national  interests  which  are  likely  to  come  up.  And,  for 
a  practical  rule  to  guide  us,  we  can  have  no  better  than 
the  maxim  of  our  departed  Chief,  "  Ask  yourselves  only 
whicli  side  is  in  the  right."  Be  ours  the  spirit,  and  the  faith, 
and  the  noble  resolve  which  Lincoln  han  clothed  in  immor- 

3 


34 

tal  words, — reversing,  in  the  might  and  in  the  wisdom  of 
simple  goodness,  one  of  the  profoundest  maxims  of  false 
state-craft, — "  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  -makes  might  ; 
and  in  that  faith  let  us,  to  the  erid,  dare  to  do  our  duty,  as 
we  understand  it.'" 

Then,  thou  pure  martyr  in  thy  country's  cause,  martyr 
in  the  cause  of  divine  justice  and  of  human  rights,  if  from 
thy  example,  enforced  and  hallowed  hy  the  shedding  of 
thy  blood,  thy  countrymen  shall  adopt  this  faith  and  be 
loyal  to  it  in  their  lives  j  if,  banishing  all  empty  boasting 
and  foolish  pride,  cherishing  kindly  feelings  for  all  other 
nations,  while  true  to  the  cause  of  freedom  throughout  the 
world,  willing  and  anxious  to  improve  and  amend  our  own 
institutions,  not  deeming  that  we  have  already  attained, 
faithful  at  all  times  to  the  principles  of  human  rights  on 
which  our  Government  is  founded,  and  remembering  that 
the  same  just  God  who  has  punished  us  for  one  sin  will 
punish  us  for  other  sins  if  we  are  guilty  of  them,  we  strive 
to  realize  the  ideal  of  a  Christian  state,  deciding  every 
public  question  by  the  highest  rule  of  dut}^,  and  of  duty 
alone,  then  shall  we  pay  thee  a  tribute  which  thou  wouldst 
have  prized  above  all  monuments  and  columns,  all  statues 
and  inscrij)tions,  all  eulogy  and  renown.  But  there  is  one 
thing  which  we  will  not  omit,  as  we  strive  to  honor  thy 
memory,  and  avenge  thy  death.  It  is  to  wage  unceasing 
war  with  thy  real  assassin,  who  still  stalks  through  the 
streets  of  yonder  city,  driving  God's  image,  if  cut  in  ebony, 
from  the  railway  car ;  and  still,  appealing  to  the  lowest 
and  most  vulgar  prejudice,  denies  the  privilege  of  suffrage 
to  all  men, — however  inteUigent,  virtuous,  thrifty,  pa- 
triotic, and  wise, — whose  skin  God  has  made  of  a  dif- 
ferent hue  from  our  own. 

Young  men  of  America,  let  us  prize,  as  we  ought,  our 
country's  rich  inheritance  in  great  examples.  And  now, 
another  star  is  added  to  the  brilliant  constellation  of  our 


85 


patriot  !<ages,  worthy  to  shine  in  felicitous  conjunction  with 
the  purest  luminaries  of  our  earlier  days.  Its  propitious 
beams  shall  quicken  within  us  integrity  and  faith,  devotion 
to  principle  and  to  the  right,  confidence  in  the  substantial 
worth  of  our  institutions,  joined  w^ith  the  constant  desire 
to  make  them  better  and  better;  love  for  our  fellow-men, 
unlimited  by  lines  of  race  or  creed ;  and  all  directed,  shaped, 
and  sanctified  by  love  of  the  great  Father  of  all.  Let  us 
honor  our  martyred  chief  by  sincere  admiration,  by  im- 
mortal praises,  and,  so  far  as  the  ability  is  granted  us,  by 
resembling  him.  Similitudine  decoremus.  So  shall  we  be 
worthy  to  be  the  com])atriots  of  Washington  and  of  Lin- 
coln; so  shall  we  do  our  part  in  upholding  the  fair  fabric 
of  freedom  and  of  virtue,  the  proud  boast  of  our  institu- 
tions, and  the  best  secular  hojx'  of  mankind. 


